Updating
your CV
If your CV is years out of date, it is definitely worth rewriting it.
Even if your last paid employment was years ago, don’t worry,
we have a number of tips for you to help you refresh it and make it
presentable to a potential employer.
If you find the task too daunting or do not have the time to update
your CV then we can help you. See our CV
updating service for more information.
Choosing
the right CV format
There are 3 basic formats for writing your CV:
1. Chronological (reverse order)
This is the traditional format for CVs and is one you may consider
using if you want to highlight your previous jobs and responsibilities.
This format should clearly demonstrate your career path and your increasing
responsibilities and works well if you are still in a job or have
recently finished a job.
2. Functional
A functional or skills-based CV focuses on the skills you have developed
over time. These skills can be from both your professional career
life and your home life. This format groups demonstrable accomplishments
under skill headings e.g. marketing, organisational skills, analysis,
etc).
This CV format works well if you want to use the skills you have developed
in a different field. It is also a recommended format for those people
who have taken a break from their career as it highlights the skills
rather than the gap in career progression. A functional CV enables
you to highlight how you have been using your skills outside of the
traditional workplace and how you may have developed new ones too.
3. Combination
It is also possible to combine both formats if you want to demonstrate
your previous career progression and responsibilities but want to
highlight key skills for a specific role.
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Top
tips for CV writing
Not a great deal has changed in recent years in the
way we write and format CVs. However, there are a few areas that those
returning to work should keep in mind.
Employers have little time to read every CV that lands
on their desk, so it is essential that it makes a good impression the
first time around. It is vital that it is concise, accurate and relevant.
It should document your abilities and achievements, highlight your strengths
and make any potential employer want to meet you. It is your primary
tool to secure an interview.
Here then are Capability Jane’s Top Tips for
writing, refreshing or sharpening up your CV specifically tailored to
women returning to work after a career break.
Keep your personal details clear and concise.
Do not include your age or marital status on your CV, you are legally
not permitted to do so. Make sure your contact details are accurate
and include an email address.
Create a summary statement or profile
that highlights your key skills, experience and any other relevant information
(e.g. qualifications). It only takes an employer a few seconds to scan
a CV so you want to make sure that you instantly grab their attention.
Tailor your profile to fit a specific job application. If your last
job was a number of years ago then this summary also focuses their attention
to your skills rather than the gap in your career.
Focus on your achievements rather
than just responsibilities. Start sentences with action verbs e.g. organised,
managed, co-ordinated, etc. Focus on the benefits and results. Think
about the circumstances you faced, under what conditions you carried
out a specific task. How did you approach it? What were the results
of your actions? What were the benefits? Can you measure them?
Recognise the achievements you have made outside
of the workplace. During a career break many of your skills
are not lost but have merely been channelled in other directions. Think
of all the activities you have been doing outside of the workplace and
the life skills you may have acquired in the meantime. Have you been
involved in the PTA at school? Have you carried out any voluntary work
or organised charitable events or school/community related activities?
Perhaps you have been responsible for running your
household’s finances, (using a spreadsheet?) or transferred the
contents of your address book onto a database? Don’t write off
these skills as many will be easily transferable into the workplace.
The trick is to highlight them in a way that allows them to be seen
as relevant by a potential employer.
For example, Leadership skills – ran local playgroup
of 20 parents and 30 children; Organisational skills – organised
a large group of volunteers and set up an after school club for children;
Technical skills – developed database management skills after
taking on the job of membership secretary of the local choral society.
Consider creating a skills-based or functional
CV to highlight the skills you have developed rather than the
gap in career progression if you have taken a career break. A functional
CV enables you to highlight some of the skills you have continued to
use and new ones you have developed outside of the traditional workplace.
Highlight any effort to keep your skills updated
while out of the workplace. For example, developed database
management skills while managing registration process for local society;
updated IT skills through Capability Jane’s IT refresher course;
kept up to date with industry news through industry journal subscription,
etc.
Pay attention to presentation. Content
may be important but no-one will take the time to read a sloppy, badly
crafted CV. Keep it simple. Use bullet points and/or tabs, highlight
headings in bold to make them easy to read. Double check all spellings
and grammar. Don’t rely on the computer spell check as it will
not pick up all errors, use a dictionary. Limit your CV to two pages
long.
Format your CV for electronic communication.
These days all CVs are sent electronically so it is essential that you
format your CV in a way that it can be read by all IT packages. Do not
include any fancy formatting or graphics. Try turning it in to a PDF
document – this will look much more professional and avoids it
being re-formatted at it is sent electronically (PDF converter packages
can be downloaded for free from the internet).
Highlight your personal interests.
Increasingly employers see this as revealing more about you and can
often be a determining factor between candidates. It is important therefore
to consider how you can use your interests to highlight your skills.
For example if you play tennis, and you are the club fixtures secretary
– say so. If you are the member of a local club, but it is always
you who organises the other members and schedules the next get together
– make sure that is clearly stated.
If you find the task too daunting or do not have the
time to update your CV then we can help you. See our CV
writing service for more information.
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